A new chapter for the people, and a new leader - God declares that God will be with Joshua as God was with Moses.

How well do we handle leadership transitions in the church? So often we focus on the particular person instead of on the ways God is working through people in leadership.

Another expression of God's presence being made known through strange things happening with water. How many times does water play a significant role in scripture stories? When/how has water played a role in your faith life? What does it mean for our faith when some in our world are without clean, drinkable water?

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37:

Theme of the psalm: God's love is steadfast.

Steadfast, according to dictionary.com is "Firmly fixed or established; fast fixed; firm. 2. Not fickle or wavering; constant; firm; resolute; unswerving; steady. God's love for us is constant and unwavering. Take comfort!

Vs 36 - "And there he lets the hungry live." What a great vision of justice where the poor and least are given their own place and home and cared for.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13:

I ever have trouble with the way Paul describes the work he has done. Good work, for sure, but it would be so nice to hear about it from someone other than Paul!

Paul urges them to hear his testimony as God's word, rather than human word. How confident are you that you speak God's word rather than your own? How can you be careful to let God speak through you, rather than try to conform God's words to your own thoughts?

Who, in your life, has urged and encouraged you as Paul has tried to do with the Thessalonians?

Matthew 23:1-12:

Phylacteriesare the boxes that men would tie on to their heads and arms per Old Testament law. The boxes would contain words of scripture, such as, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . ."

Do you think Jesus really means that we are never to call other humans teach, rabbi, father, or instructors? If he doesn't mean something literal, what is his point?

What titles do you go by? What titles do you give to others? When have you felt it important to use titles?

"They do not practice what they teach." This is a dangerous game for anyone in a position of authority. Do you practice what you teach? Does the church?

What burdens do we as the church place on others? Do we burden others with moral standards that make it seem impossible to them to be "good enough" for God and the church?

This is where I feel most sorry for Moses, who, though making many mistakes, has more or less followed God on such an adventure, and yet only gets to see the whole promised land from a mountain top, never actually entering it himself. Could you trust God on such a journey, if you knew that you yourself would not reach the desired end, that you would have to entrust that completion to others?

I think this is a good lesson for the church - we have to let go of 'ownership' of our journeys - God 'owns' our journey. If we can let go of possession of where we are leading the church, we can get even closer to the promised land than if we demanded we be able to go the whole way ourselves!

"Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated." What a great little obituary! We can pray that our spiritual sight remains unimpaired and our vigor fresh all the days of our life.

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17:

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place." We dwell, live, in God. We are home in God, live within God. A comforting image.

"from everlasting to everlasting you are God." God is God is God always.

"A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past . . . they are like a dream." Human mortality - we don't like to confront it. But this Psalm reminds us to remember our place, to put things in perspective.

"turn back, you mortals." "Turn, O Lord." A conversation going on here, between God and us.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8:

Typical Paul, always drawing attention to his own suffering, in a martyr-sort of way! It is bearable since he was such good points to go along with it, I guess.

"not to please mortals, but to please God." As pastors, we are sometimes caught up in trying to please people instead of God, aren't we? We can't always - perhaps can rarely - do both. If we need to do only one, we're called to do what pleases God.

"to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves." This is my favorite verse in the passage. Sharing the gospel is a good gift. But it is even better, and more authentic, if we are willing to give ourselves - our passions, who we are - along with it.

Matthew 22:34-46:

"love the Lord you God . . . love your neighbor" Sometimes this verse seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? But it is the simplest most straight-forward things that we are worst at living out.

"and with all your mind." This phrase actually does not appear in the Old Testament, but I like the addition. We are rational thinkers, and I like to think that our whole mind is meant to love God as well.

In the second section, Jesus asks a 'trick question' of sorts, in, apparently, an effort to get the Pharisees to quit badgering him with their own lame trick question. Do you think Jesus was invested in the answer to or theology of the question he asks? I doubt it, but he tries to show the Pharisees perhaps that they are missing the point, asking the wrong questions.

By the time we reach today’s text in Exodus 33, the
Israelites have been through most of the worst and bulk of wandering through
the desert, seeking after a new homeland. As we’ve talked about, we’ve seen God
meet need after need expressed by the hesitant, scared Israelites. And then
they started to transition, to think more about where they were headed to instead of what they were running from, and God started to help them shape
an identity as a people, carving out a law that would guide them as they entered
a new place and a new way of being together with each other and with God. And
finally, they’re on the brink of reaching their destination.

And so it seems strange to me, after all they’ve been
through, that now Moses would be so
plaintively asking if God will be with them, go with them, when they enter into
the Promised Land. He’s pleading, practically begging, whining, beseeching God
to go with them into the Promised Land. Moses is talking with God, and he says
to God, “So, you haven’t said who you’re going to send with us into the
Promised Land. I mean, you’ve said you know me by name, and I’ve found favor in
your sight. If that’s true, show me your ways, so that I can know you better
and continue finding favor in your
sight. Oh, and also, consider that all these people are yours.”

God responds, “My presences will go with you, and I will
give you rest.” But that’s not convincing enough for Moses apparently. He says,
“if you aren’t really going with us, don’t send us out of here to that unknown
land. Nobody will believe we’ve found favor in your sight if you won’t even go
with us. If we are really your people, you have to be with us.” And God says,
“I’ll do just what you’ve asked, because I know you by name, and you’ve found
favor with me.”

So Moses boldly asks to see God’s glory. And God says, I’m
still in charge of my own mercy and grace, but yes, “I will make all my
goodness pass before you.” The Israelites believed no one could look at the
face of God, and so Moses stands on a cleft in the rock, and God covers Moses
until God has passed by, when Moses is then able to see God’s back. Actually,
the Hebrew here is a bit ambiguous. It’s like: Moses can see the residue glory
of the place where God just was. Moses can see: wow, God was just right there.

So
what’s with all the need for affirmations, for proofs, on Moses’ part all of a
sudden? Well, last week, a select group of us talked about what was happening
down on the ground while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments that we
talked about two weeks ago. While
Moses was up there, the people were down on the ground,
out-of-sight-out-of-mind convinced that God had abandoned them, begging Moses’
brother Aaron to make a replacement God for them. Aaron complies, and they
fashion a golden calf, which the people then worship. When Moses sees it, he
smashes the tablets with the commandments, and God is mad. Really, really, mad. So the people are full of guilt and
regret. And they wonder, as even Moses does, if they can possibly have the same
relationship with God going forward now that they’ve screwed up so badly.
Indeed, God tells them to head to the Promised Land – they’re still going to
the land of milk and honey. But God says, “I’m sending my angel to guide you,
because right now, I’m so mad at you I can’t even look at you.” (That’s a
Pastor Beth paraphrase.) That’s why Moses seems so unsure if God will go with
them – he is unsure! Have they
crossed the line at last? Is God done with them? Have the screwed up too badly?
Does God still love them? Are they still God’s people?

I think
we have to learn about what unconditional love is. I don’t think we’re born
knowing it innately. It’s something so good we have to experience it, glimpse
it at least, before we start believing in the possibility. Or maybe we start to
believe that others might love us unconditionally when we realize we love them unconditionally. I’m not sure of
the order. But I do think it is something we grow into. I think especially of
my 7 year old nephew Sam. My mom, Sam’s grandma, loves Sam with the unmitigated
love that grandparents have for grandchildren. I saw this cartoon on facebook
recently and it captured the essence of unconditional grandparent love. My
mother has in particular a problem with not giving Sam absolutely everything,
and this cartoon is only a slight exaggeration of times she wants to give Sam
“a small gift.” But Sam is a 7 year old boy, and sometimes he’s mischievous. Perhaps even naughty.
Occasionally, while at Grandma’s, Sam will get into trouble, and need to cool
down in his room. Sometimes she needs to let him know that his behavior is
unacceptable, and she doesn’t want to be around him if he’s going to be
hurtful, or if he won’t listen, or if he has to be told for the 1000th
time that he can’t jump on the couches. Since Grandma is pretty easy on him,
Sam can be pretty surprised if she tells him “no” and sets a firm limit. In
fact, sometimes, knowing that his Grandma is upset with him will cause Sam to
burst into tears. Or he’ll approach her hesitantly, after a timeout, not sure
how he’ll be received. As if he’s wondering, “Have I been so bad that you
really don’t want me around anymore? Do you still like me?” Indeed, for an
elementary school kid, in that tumultuous world were kids are best friends one
day and worst enemies the next, it’s easy to believe someone might stop liking
you. And so I think part of the way Sam responds is because he has to learn
over time about saying sorry and getting forgiveness and the astonishing truth
that there is absolutely nothing that he could do – nothing – that would make my mother love him any less. And no
wonder it’s hard to take in, because that’s pretty amazing stuff. To be loved
no matter how much you’ve screwed up, even when you’ve hurt the very person who
loves you so much. I think Sam is slowly learning though, because recently, he
said to my Mom, “Grandma, you love me way too much!” Unconditional love is
powerful.

Thinking about Sam and my mom helps me understand Moses’s
chat with God a little better. In the aftermath of the Israelites making idols,
worshiping something other than the very God who rescued them from Egypt,
promised to prosper them, and guided them carefully through the wilderness,
providing for their every need, God is not thrilled with the Israelites. In fact,
God says: right now, I’m mad enough that maybe I better not be around you. Let
me send a messenger with you to guide you into the Promised Land. Not: I’m
going back on the promise I made. Not: I’m leaving you with no help. But: I
need a little space. But the people mourn, hearing, “I don’t love you anymore.”
And that’s what I think Moses is asking, really: “Do you still love us? And if
you still love us, will you please come with us? Because I want to know you
even better than I have before.”

Of course God says yes. Of course God loves them still.
Always. Because there is nothing they can do that will separate them from God’s
love. Nothing. Even when God doesn’t
really want to be around them for a bit, God loves them. In the very next
scene, we find that the tablets of the law, broken in the aftermath of the
golden calf, are made new. A symbol of healing.

I think we can say: God loves us unconditionally. But knowing it, deep in our hearts, is a bit
harder. Because we, too, live in a tumultuous world where our brokenness makes
it hard to believe in unconditional love some days. And we wonder, perhaps, if
we even deserve it. Thankfully, love operate in an entirely different system
than what we deserve or not. And thankfully, we catch glimpses of unconditional
love, even in our faulty, human version of it. Enough to be learning, over
time, as we mature in faith, that God loves us even when we’ve made a big mess
of things. God loves so much a bystander might observe that God in fact gets a
little extravagant in loving us so much. And there’s nothing we can do that will change it. So let’s keep journeying.
We’re almost to the Promised Land. And God will go with us. Thanks be to God.
Amen.

For the next four weeks we’re continuing our journey in
the book of Exodus, but we’re shifting our focus a little bit. We’ve been
journeying out of Egypt, but now
we’re heading to the Promised Land.
The different might not sound like much, but I think with study we’ll find that
while initially, the Israelites can only think about where they’ve come from, and can only demand sign after
sign from God that they haven’t been led into the wilderness simply to die, now
God is pushing them, encouraging them to look forward, to the life that will become theirs. They are no longer
going to be simply people who are on the run from slavery in Egypt. No, now
they are going to be the Israelites who are seeking the Promised Land. A nation
unto themselves. And they need a more compelling identity than “formerly slaves
in Egypt.” Instead of knowing who they aren’t,
they really need to start worrying about who they are now.

I think this is a transition we all need to make at times
in our lives, and sometimes, like the Israelites, we need continual reminders
and encouragements that we aren’t in the same place we started anymore. I
remember during my first years of ministry, it was hard for me to stop thinking
of myself as someone just out of seminary. For a long time when I started in my
first parish, I would explain my ignorance about a particular situation by
saying, “well, I’m pretty new at this.” But now I’m in my twelfth year of
ministry. I’m no longer just out of seminary. In fact, the last time I visited
Drew, where I attended school, I realized that perhaps more than 50% of the
faculty I studied with at Drew are now retired or moved on to new places. The
Drew I attended isn’t there anymore,
even if I wanted to go back and make that my context again. I’m sure you’ve had
similar experiences in your own lives, and I know this congregation has had
that experience. You’ve been through the process of creating a new congregation
where once there were four different communities. And no doubt for a while in
that transition, you were defined mostly by where you came from. How you did things at Cardiff or Navarino or South Onondaga
or Cedarvale. But now, these many years in, even though you still cherish the
memories of where you’ve come from, you are Apple Valley United Methodist
Church. A new family, forged by your new shared experiences.

And so now, our scripture texts focus not so much on what
is being left behind, but on what kind of future the Israelites want in the
land to which they’re headed. So today we find ourselves with a familiar text –
the giving of the ten commandments. Sometimes I think familiar bible passages
are the trickiest for us, because we assume we already know what the text says.
Oh, the ten commandments – I know what those are already. Just don’t ask me to
recite them on the spot, right? The first four commandments, as I mentioned
with the children, talk about our relationship with God. I am God, no one else,
and no other gods are before me. Make no idols of any kind. Don’t wrongfully
use my name. And remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, a day of rest. And then
the other six commandments are reaching outward, emphasizing how we are to live
as neighbors, a community, a people. Honor your parents. Do not murder, or
commit adultery, or steal, or lie, or covet what belongs to another. Eventually,
the laws that will govern the Israelites are much expanded, but these are the
building blocks, caring for the relationship with God and neighbor.

David Lose writes that biologists would tell you that
we’re hard-wired to look out for our own wants and needs over all others, and
that this is where the concept of the strongest – and presumably most selfish –
surviving comes from. Theologians, he said, would tell you that this is what
human sin is: selfishness that puts
our needs above the needs of others, but actually limits “human flourishing”
and contradicts God’s desire for us to love one another. The law, then, at its
most basic level, is something that God gives us to curb us from our tendency
to put ourselves first. The law creates boundaries that enable us to flourish
as a whole, that “create room in which we can live with each other.” Lose concludes, “That’s the law, in its first
use, functioning as a gift from God to tell us – children and adults alike –
“no” so that we can then say “yes” to a richer and more abundant life together.”
(1) For the Israelites, the ten commandments are a starting point of the new
community that they’re building. A way that they will agree to live together,
so that all people in the community have the chance to flourish. Of course, as
we’ll see in the weeks ahead, their journey to the promised land is not all
smooth sailing. But now they have a framework for their lives together.

Last week, I met with the Staff Parish Relations
Committee to do some of our work in preparation for Charge Conference in
November. One of the tasks that we must complete is creating a covenant between
the pastors and the congregation. The covenant, especially when you have new
pastors leading you, can be pretty simple. But the basic purpose is something
like the purpose of the commandments: it’s setting out some priorities and a
way of living together as a church that will create the space for God to help
us flourish. That’s what we want, right? For this community of faith to
flourish. And if we want that, what do we need to decide about how we will live
together? What things are most important to us? What are the core values at the
center or what we do, and how we treat each other, and how we reach out in love
and service? We’re working on that, and I encourage you all to think about that, whether you are part of SPRC or not. What
principles do you think should guide our life and work together? Love?
Forgiveness? Hope? Joy? What ways of being together will help us create space
so that here at Apple Valley, we can, together, seek to follow Jesus?

Today is World Communion Sunday. It’s a day when
Christians from many traditions make the effort to celebrate communion to
remind ourselves of our common purpose and identity as members of the body of
Christ. The table is a space Christ creates where all are invited. There’s room
for everyone. And there’s one bread, one body, so that everyone can take part,
and everyone can flourish. As Christ invites us, makes space for us at the
table, let us strive to live in a way that we are always making room for others,
so that together, we might live into all that God hopes and dreams for us.
Amen.

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." This is the promise that God makes to Moses. Moses makes God repeat it, because he knows that God's presence means good things for the Israelites. But I wonder if Moses expects a different kind of protection and presence than God has planned? I think Moses sees God's presence as a safety net, instead of a foundation. Do we ever see and treat God's presence that way?

"you cannot see my face." Wanting to meet "face to face" usually is something we want so that we can be on equal footing with whoever we meet with. God reminds us that we are not exactly on equal footing with God! But still, that we see God, that Moses can be so close with and to God shows that God has a unique relationship with humanity. We can talk to God! Compared with other characteristics of deities that would have been worshipped in Moses' day, our God, this God of Israel, is a different kind of God . . .

Psalm 99:

"lover of justice, you have established equity" - this is definitely my favorite phrase in this Psalm. God loves justice. And we don't need to wonder what is meant by justice in this case. This is not God-lover-of-justice who loves to punish and condemn. The justice that God loves is the justice that brings equity. That's equal-ness. Fairness for everyone. God tells us what justice means. Let's not try to define it on our own when God already does it for us.

"you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrong-doings." An interesting verse. God who is both forgiving and avenging. According to dictionary.com, avenge means "to inflict a punishment or penalty in return for" Can God forgive us and punish us? I'm not sure. I always hesitate to think of or speak of God in terms of punishing us, because I think our theologically can get really out of hand when we go there - we like to point out how God is punishing others who are not like us, or we worry that everything that happens to us that we don't like is due to God's punishment. But does God punish? What do you think?

"Worship at [God's] holy mountain. For the Lord our God is holy". For the Israelites, the mountain was a holy place to meet God. For us, our sanctuaries are sometimes holy - what other places are those you consider holy places?

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10:

Words of greeting open this letter from Paul. I've always liked verse 2: "we always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly" - It is nice to know that someone is constantly praying for you, isn't it? Do we remember to pray for one another in our ministry? To lift each other up before God?

"and you became imitators of us and of the Lord." If someone was to imitate you, could they also say they were imitating Christ? What would it look like for someone to imitate you?

"in every place you faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it." And this, could someone say this of your faith?

Matthew 22:15-22:

Context: like last week's reading, don't forget the time - this reading takes place during what we call 'holy week' after Jesus has come 'triumphantly' into Jerusalem. The Pharisees and others are trying trick after trick to entrap Jesus.

The Pharisees and Herodians patronize Jesus in their question, but they've at least noticed correctly: Jesus shows no deference and no partiality to people. Clearly, though, this drives them crazy. They want his deference!

This reads as a sort of "church and state" question. What do we make of Jesus' response? That religion and state are separate? That our religious life shouldn't influence the political and vise versa? I don't think that's what Jesus means.

Instead, he says, "to God the things that are God's." What is God's? Do we not believe that it all belongs to God? What is ours, or the emperor's?

At first, the story of the golden calf strikes me as ridiculous - who would want to worship or take any such comfort in a cow made out of gold? What can a golden cow do for you?

But then I think of the idols we have today: money - certainly a gold cow might symbolize that?! Possessions, even people. We put many things before God. Anything we put before God is an idol. Anything.

Does God need to be persuaded? Without Moses 'imploring' God, would God fail to be merciful? I don't think so.

"And the Lord changed his mind." Everything I think theologically screams out at this notion of God just having a sort-of temper tantrum/mood swing until Moses "sweet talks" God. What do you think?

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23:

"Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times." I like the wording - do righteousness, as opposed to are righteous. Righteousness, grammatically or not, is an action - a doing word, not a being word.

This psalm relates to the Exodus reading, and calls for repentance from sin. The psalmist actually recalls much of the story of God, Moses, and the Israelites, so make sure to read the whole Psalm.

Again, a sense here that God changed God's mind, being persuaded by Moses.

Philippians 4:1-9:

Euodia and Syntyche - often overlooked examples of women in the Bible who are clearly in leadership roles. Paul comments that these women "have struggled beside [him] in the work of the gospel." This seems pretty clear on their position, co-workers with men in gospel work. Celebrate!

V. 5 – “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” The Greek might translate also as “reasonableness”, “fairness”, “goodness”. Gentleness is not necessarily a trait we value, is it? Particularly not in both genders. It’s ok for a woman, but we don’t often praise men for gentleness. How can we let our gentleness be known? What does that have to do with our faith? The command from Paul flows into the second phrase, ‘The Lord is near.’ How do they relate?

Think on excellent things. I like that advice! Oh yeah, and do all the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in Paul. Sometimes, Paul's modesty kills me.

Matthew 22:1-14:

Usually the parables are challenging, but in a way I find compelling. I must admit, this parable is challenging in a more troubling way to me - we must dig deep for understanding! Check out Chris Haslam's always helpful notes for some more comments.

Notice the similarities and striking differences between this parable and the parable in Luke 14.

In Matthew, it is specifically a king inviting guests to a wedding. They won't come, and what's more, they kill the kings slaves - they are aggressive in their rejection of the king's invitation.

So, the king takes whoever he can get as guests - but, a guest who is not properly dressed is bound and ejected into the darkness, where there is weeping and teeth-gnashing. What a consequence!!

"Many are called, few are chosen." Is this a good summary? Does God call many of us, only to reject many of us? Is this the gospel writer's take on the parable, instead of Jesus'?

How do you respond to invitations you receive? Do you always RSVP? Do you show up unprepared? What can we learn about how we are to respond to God's invitations?

People have spent a lot of energy defending these commandments. Are they worth defending? While I don't feel they need to be posted in our courtrooms, for example, I think they are still pretty important for us.

The ones I am most drawn to are the first commandments. God is God and our only God. We might not worship other deities, but sometimes we're in danger of worshipping our possessions, our work, our culture, or our country. We may not make golden calf idols, but we idolize plenty of things, don't we?

"Remember the Sabbath." This is so hard for me. We're recently started a twice-weekly prayer chapel at our church - 30 minutes to be still and be with God. I find even that hard. My mind is always racing over my to-do list. How do you keep Sabbath?

Coveting - that's another commandment that I think is so important. We always want what we don't have, no matter how much we do have. How do we live a life of gratitude?

Psalm 19:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God." These famous words from the Psalm are often set to music...

This imagery of the sun "like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy", this personification of the sun draws to my mind Greek/Roman mythology, and no doubt made contemporaries of the psalmist think of similar images of sun-gods in other religions. The difference? Here the sun is put into place by God, not a god in itself.

God is more than gold, sweeter than honey. A simple message - but reminds us of things we put too often before God in our lives.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations..." This verse is often used by pastors before they begin preaching. I like it, but if there's a way to use a Bible verse too much to the point of over doing, this one makes it on my personal list!

Philippians 3:4b-14:

One of my least favorite things about Paul is that I feel he is always boasting about himself while pretending to be humble. But here, he actually is making good, thoughtful points about his identity and his identity in Christ. A faithful Jew all his life, Paul says his faith identity would give him reason to boast except that now, in Christ, these things are "regard[ed] as loss]." Why? These things simply aren't important in Christ: in Christ there is no Greek or Jew.

"Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." The them here is of a clean slate. It isn't easy to forget the past. Indeed, it is not always wise either. But what Paul urges here is to forget the identity that was without Christ, so that we can focus on 'the prize' of living fully in Christ in the present/future.

"I press on." We can't underestimate the importance of simply pressing on, I think, even when we struggle. We just press on, try again, reach toward the goal.

Matthew 21:33-46:

Jesus tells stories about his identity. The landowner/tenants story is interesting - it almost reads like "God should have expected Jesus to be killed" - which isn't helpful.

Looking for more help, I check Chris Haslam's comments. Now it makes more sense. Jesus is saying: God will find tenants who will produce. Do we want to be tenants? What will we produce for the landowner? If we produce nothing, why would that landowner want us to stay as tenants?

The Pharisees get that Jesus is talking about them, but remain immobilized. Do you ever feel that way? The scriptures you know are calling you to accountability, and yet you still do not act. Jesus is calling us to action!

We’re continuing on journeying with the Israelites this
week as they make their way out of Egypt and into the wilderness. The text for
today tells us this happens “by stages.” This is both true in the sense that a
large group of people can’t really move all at once, but only by stages, and true in a deeper sense. This journey
is not just literal but spiritual, and the Israelites certainly are only moving
by stages spiritually too. In today’s passage, they’re arguing with Moses.
“Give us water to drink.” The language is imperative: do it, and do it now.
Moses responds, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the
Hebrew here is more explicit – it’s legal
language. Moses is saying more specifically something like, “why are you
bringing me and God to court over this?” We don’t know if Moses’ word choice is
because he’d reached his breaking point, tired of the complaining, or because
that large group of people he was leading was lodging a more organized, serious
complaint. A mob of discontent people could be pretty intimidating. After all,
they’re accusing Moses now of bringing the people out into the desert to kill
them with thirst, and Moses senses they are so upset they are going to stone
him to death. He cries to God for help. So God instructs Moses to go ahead a
ways, along with a group of elders, and at the rock of Horeb, where God will
be, to strike the rock with his staff. And then water will come from it, and
the people will be able to drink. Moses does just this, and everyone has water to
drink. But he names the place Massah and Meribah, meaning quarrel and test,
because the people posed the question: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

If
you’re keeping track, that’s three times now that the Israelites complain to
Moses, asking if he and God freed them just so they could die in the
wilderness. First, at the crossing of the Red Sea, then, as you heard about
last week with Pastor Penny, when the people were hungry, and now, when the
people are thirsty. Each time they accuse Moses of leading them from Egypt only
to let them die. Each time they seem to ask the question that is explicit in
today’s text: “Is the Lord among us or not?” And each time, they have their needs met by God through Moses’s
leadership. Each time, then, their fears are eased, their needs met, and God
presence with them is affirmed in a way that seems undeniable. And yet, this
pattern keeps repeating. “Is the Lord among us or not?” It’s like they can’t be
convinced. And I don’t know about you, but I’m amazed at God’s patience. This
is God, the creator of us and everything, and when the people whine and
complain, God simply meets their needs
with nary a chastising word. I’m not sure I could be so patient. Why exactly
are the Israelites so unwilling to believe in God’s presence, when they’ve
witnessed God at work, saving them in
every way, over and over again? What will it take to convince them?

How many of you
have ever seen the Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler movie called 50 First Dates?
It’s a cute romantic comedy, and the premise is this: Barrymore was in a car
accident and the accident affects her short term memory. She can remember
everything in her life up until the accident. But after the accident, she
forgets everything once she goes to sleep. In other words, to her, each day is
like the day before the accident. Of course, real amnesia doesn’t work quite
that way, but we suspend our disbelief for the movie. Her family works hard to
create a safe world for her. Rather than spending every day of her life
re-teaching her about the accident, they create a world where the accident
never happened, knowing they have to do it all over again the next day. Then
Sandler’s character comes along and falls in love with Barrymore. She likes him
too – each day she meets him. Because every day is like the first time meeting
him. She never does get her memory back, but by the end of the movie she and
Sandler create a life together where every single day he has to tell her the
entire story of her life together. Every day, she has to meet him over again as
if for the first time, and eventually meet her children, again, as if for the
first time.

This is what I think the Israelites are acting like. Like
they have to start everyday at the very beginning again, and have everything
explained to them all over. I’m God. I love you. I’m going to save you. I will
be with you. Moses is going to lead you. We aren’t bringing you out here to
die. Over and over and over again. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of
learning retention happening here. I think about school teachers – one of the
hardest things for teachers is working on retention. When kids have summer
vacation, teachers have to wonder how much of what they’ve learned they’re
going to lose over the break. Teachers hope kids will retain everything, but each
September, a little bit of the starting work is review of the work from the
year before. A reminder of what’s been learned already. However, teachers trust
that they’re building on a foundation and years of learning that have come from
the years already completed. You don’t have to start English in 12th
grade with learning the alphabet and learning to read before you can get to
studying Shakespeare. You’re expected to remember what you’ve learned already. And
you remember what you’ve learned because you’ve been putting it to use –
reading and writing every day. Otherwise, you get something like my efforts to
learn how to knit. My half-hearted efforts mean that I’ve taught myself to knit
and purl. But I get distracted and busy with other things and I never get good
enough to knit well. And then a year passes, and I decide to try knitting
again, and I have absolutely no foundation to work with. Even though I’ve
learned it before, I have to start all over, right at the very beginning. And
so I’ll never really learn to knit.
Not the way I’ve been going about it.

I think God is so patient with the Israelites because
their recent experiences mean it’s more like they’re trying to remember after
recovering from an accident, like in 50 First Dates, than they are like trying
to learn how to knit, but too busy to be bothered remembering, like I’ve been.
God is patient, and willing to show them again and again, “Yes, yes, the Lord
IS with you, always, always, always,” because they’ve been slaves! They’ve been
oppressed! They’ve had their children slaughtered by Egyptians! They’ve been
beaten and forced into hard labor! They’ve been living in crisis mode. And so
for a while, they have to go back to square one every single time. Every time,
they have to start in the same place: God, are you with us? And God will
respond, every time, in word and deed, Yes!

Eventually, though, God will start to expect the
Israelites to retain some of what they’re learning. Next week, in fact, when we
look at the ten commandments, we’ll see that they include language about not
putting God to the test. Because a deep relationship can’t be built on a
foundation where one person in the relationship is constantly requiring the
other person to prove themselves. Eventually, they Israelites will heal as a
people, and God will expect them to learn a new way of being a people and being
in relationship with God.

The question, then, for us is this: Do we treat God like
we’re in crisis mode? Or like we’re in a relationship, and like we’ve
remembered some of what we’ve learned about God already? Sometimes we do face
crises of such magnitude that we need a little bit of going back to basics.
Sometimes our world is turned upside down. We’ve faced unspeakable tragedy.
We’re shaken to the core. We’ve suffered deeply. And we need some reminders of
how much God loves us and how much God is with us. And we’ll get them. God is
there, and will remind us of just that. God is with us.

But sometimes, we’re simply like schoolchildren refusing
to do our summer reading. Or we treat our faith like a hobby we’re thinking
about taking up, like knitting, but we’re never really willing to put enough in
to remember what we learned the last time around. And so we don’t retain
anything that we’ve learned from being in relationship with God. We don’t
retain enough to let it really change us. We don’t let walking with God become
something we can’t unlearn, like how
to ride a bike. We want to start at square one again because it’s just easier,
and doesn’t require any discipleship, any commitment, and changing our lives so
that we’re walking with God. And then when we wonder “Is God with us?” Well,
God’s still up to the test, yes. God is with
us. But what kind of foundation for a real relationship is that? We don’t
expect to start at square one in our human relationships. And God expects more
from us too. Is God with us? Yes, we know that. Our whole lives are full of
signs of God’s presence with us, God’s love for us. If you think you’re in
danger of forgetting, I encourage you to find intentional ways of remembering. Every
day, I hope you remind yourself of a way in which God has blessed you beyond
measure. And this knowledge, this learning about God and growing in
relationship with God, will be the manna in the wilderness and the water from
the rock that sustains your spirit when hunger and thirst threaten.

Is God with us or not? Of course, God is with us.
Remember? Remember. Amen.